TV on your PC opens up the curtains, Netflix comes to Windows

There are a lot of TV options out there, and consumers are increasingly having to jump from Web site to Web site to find their favorite shows, movies and sports that they frequently watch – all with a different experience each time. For some, this may mean remembering multiple URLs, opening multiple browser tabs, browser windows and even separate programs to get what they want. That’s why our goal is to make Windows Media Center the best place to experience TV on the PC, and one of the ways we’re doing this is to alleviate the need for getting your content from different places while offering a consistent experience.

Today we’re happy to let you know that Netflix is now available in Windows Media Center, offering TV and movie lovers more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes that can be watched instantly on a PC with Windows. If you’re a Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate user and a Netflix subscriber, you can get started right away. Click on the green button, click on the Netflix tile under TV+Movies and begin streaming movies and TV shows instantly.

For a complete run down of the features and details, check out our nifty animated video below that gives you a complete overview of Netflix in Windows Media Center:

Netflix is the second recent content milestone in Windows Media Center, with the first being the Sports Channel, which offers a variety of interactive sports content from CBSSports.com, FOX Sports, MSNBC.com and more. Additionally, you may be aware that last fall, we announced the MSNBC News portal, which gives you the latest news, top stories, local weather and more. All of these offerings in Windows Media Center are aimed to bring your content into one place, and as we’ve showcased in previous posts, watching TV on the PC is becoming a preferred way to watch content. Take for example, a recent Forrester study which found that:

Cable and satellite providers reach roughly 100 million homes in the U.S., computer-based television viewing is growing, driven largely by adults ages 18 to 34 who like to watch content when and where they choose.

To further prove this point, we interviewed random Seattle locals to find out a) how they prefer to access their content, whether it’s through specific sites or via a one-stop shop location. Out of the dozens we approached, we hardly ran into anyone that didn’t watch TV on the PC, and as you might expect, the ones that wanted to share their thoughts had mixed answers. There might not be a universal preference for receiving content, because as the video demonstrates, people have preferences and a passion for how they watch TV on the PC. You can check out the video here:

Any word on whether this works in Windows 7? The Netflix streaming player doesn’t work in Win7 x64 at the moment, so I’m not holding my breath for this plugin working, but I’ll give it a try when I get home and report back. 🙂

[…] Personally I don’t like the all-in-one media applications like iTunes and Windows Media Center, but for people who don’t want to futz around with codec packs and weird open source stuff like Media Player Classic, VLC, and other stuff, the increasing robustness of omnibus media players must be comforting. After all, you do your queue online, why shouldn’t you be able to open up your default player and watch stuff there? You can find more info at the Media Center site, or at this post on TV on your PC. […]